The Fort Walton Beach Vikings Boys Soccer left everything they had on the field Thursday afternoon. It just wasn’t quite enough.
- American Heritage eliminated Fort Walton Beach 4-3 in penalty kicks after the two sides played to a 1-1 draw through regulation and overtime, ending the Vikings’ season in the Final Four for the second straight year.
Fort Walton Beach came out aggressive and created chance after chance in the first half, but couldn’t find the breakthrough.
Isaac Holbrook had a good look at the 29th-minute mark, but his shot didn’t find the net. Juanma Cotes fired a shot at the 35th-minute mark that looked like it would go in, but Patriots goalkeeper Alexander Vanhaeren came up with an impressive save. A minute later, Isaiah Esparza sent a header just inches wide. Holbrook had another opportunity off a corner kick at the 38th-minute mark, but it sailed over the net.
- Despite the scoreless first half, goalkeeper Wesley Markoch kept the Vikings in it, making save after save to keep American Heritage off the board heading into the break.
The Vikings continued pressing in the second half. Cotes had a chance at the 57th-minute mark and Wilmar Munoz followed at the 60th-minute mark, but Vanhaeren was up to the task on both occasions.
It was American Heritage that broke through first. Clayton Boone fired a header into the back of the net at the 63rd-minute mark, slipping it just past Markoch.
But the Vikings showed the resilience that has defined their season. With their backs against the wall at the 77th-minute mark, after Vanhaeren appeared to block a shot from Cotes, Brian Velazquez‘s second effort found the back of the net to tie it at 1-1 and give the Vikings life heading into overtime.
Overtime was a back-and-forth battle. American Heritage missed a penalty kick and had a potential game-winner hit the post. Velazquez and Esparza both had looks for Fort Walton Beach, but couldn’t find the frame.
- Still tied at 1-1, the match went to penalty kicks.
American Heritage took an early 3-2 lead, but Markoch came up with a save to keep the Vikings alive. Oscar Gallardo stepped up and buried the tying attempt to make it 3-3. The Patriots answered when Gianluigi Gonzalez fired his shot past Markoch to go up 4-3, leaving the Vikings’ season on the foot of Esparza.
His shot went over the crossbar, and the Vikings’ historic two-year run came to an end.
Fort Walton Beach’s season ends with back-to-back Final Four appearances — a run that, before last year, the program hadn’t achieved in four decades. The Vikings will say goodbye to an impactful senior class in Cotes, Velazquez, Esparza, Markoch, Christopher Reyes and Liam Ackerman, all of whom played their final games as Vikings on Thursday.
- Fort Walton Beach returns a strong core of talent, though. Holbrook, Gallardo, Munoz, Brody Bentley and Yuliesti Herrera will all be back, setting the stage for a potential third straight regional title run.
American Heritage will face Bishop Moore, which beat Naples 2-0, in the Class 4A state championship Saturday at Spec Martin Stadium in DeLand.
